Earnings Call: Q2 2026

Aug 13, 2026

Summary

Q2 delivered record EBITDA, 23.2% ROIC and strong feed growth, prompting higher FY volume, EBIT and revenue guidance. Biological volumes remain the main risk, while marine-ingredient scarcity is being managed through formulation and sourcing.

Welcome to today's presentation where we have the pleasure to present BioMar, the first report as a freshly listed company on the stock market. Q2 2026 results is what the topic of today will be. We are joined by CEO Carlos Diaz to take us through the results, and in the end, answer questions in a Q&A session. As always, there is a box below the screen where you are watching it from. Do feel free to ask questions during the presentation or after, but we will take the Q&A session at the end. Do feel free to ask the questions in Danish. I will try and translate to the best of my ability. For now, I will hand the call over to you, Michael. Thank you very much, Michael. Very excited to present our first Q2 report as a listed company, as you mentioned. I will try to go through it and was looking forward for the questions. I am Carlos Diaz. I am the CEO of BioMar. BioMar is a company producing aquafeed, as we presented before, and we are here to see how we developed in Q2, but also in first half. I always begin with this slide. This is an extremely important slide for me. This is our purpose. BioMar is a purpose-driven company. As I will show later, this half year and Q2 has been extremely important to know what you are doing. We are a company driven by innovation, as many other Danish companies, efficiency, sustainability, and this has come into our biggest proof during this year. Our industry, as maybe some of you know, we have said before, we operate in a quite an attractive industry, which is aquaculture. This is around 22 million tons of fish and shrimp around the world. This is the high-value fish and shrimp where BioMar operates. This is around DKK 25 billion all around the world. In this sector, BioMar or a feed company has a key position in the middle, as you can see in the slide, and a very important position, but also a very attractive position. Why is it important? First of all, this represents more than 50% of any aquaculture farmer input. 50% of the cost is feed. That means that we are extremely important for them as a supplier. Second, we represent more than 80% of their carbon footprint. If a farmer want to improve their carbon footprint, it need to rely on the feed supplier. Third, it is the main driver for performance of the fish and also health of the fish, and we are disconnected from the farm gate, from the fish or shrimp prices. This is the characteristics of our industry and why we believe we are in a very nice spot in this aquaculture value chain. How do we operate in this business? We are global number three aquafeed player globally, so we have quite a critical mass, and one of the most important ones. We offer comprehensive feed solutions, not only feed, but feed solutions, technical services, which favor the stickiness of our customers, because we also help them how to feed the fish or shrimp. We have a very well-invested R&D and footprint all around the world. We have an integrated business model with a resilient cost pass-through of the input cost, the raw material costs. Usually, our contracts will work where we quarterly can adjust our prices either on a cost-plus, depending on the contract, or in a basket. That means that the inflation of raw materials, we can transfer them to our customers, of course, as long as we remain competitive and our feed is performing. All of this, the long-term contracts, because we are a key supplier, the good visibility on margins allows us, if we work very diligently with net working capital in our operations, to have a very nice return on invested capital, and at the end, a very nice cash flow. Some key highlights for the quarter. The business model and financial performance proves its resilience. Q2 deliver all-time high EBITDA and a strong return on invested capital, despite volatility, geopolitical turbulence, and IPO cost, and the restructuring we are doing in one of our segments with this Tech Solutions. The underlying feed performance is also strong. Feed volumes increased by 3% in Q2, 5% year to date, and the EBIT increased by 7% in Q2 and 10% year to date. Shrimp is the main driver for this growth. We have grown a lot, especially in Ecuador. This is the driver for the volume growth, but at the same time, this is a little bit diluting our EBIT per ton, because the price for shrimp feed is cheaper than the price of fish feed, meaning that the EBIT per ton nominally is lower, but the EBIT margin is basically the same. Raw material availability has been an issue. This has put into proof all our knowledge, all our R&D. Because of El Niño, as I will explain later, fishmeal and fish oil have been scarce. Our formulation expertise, our R&D capabilities have helped in order to counteract these effects and being able to help our customers. Last but not least, our capacity expansions, very important capacity expansions in Ecuador and in China are well underway in order to be finished on time and on cost. If we look at the financial performance, as I said before, we increased our volume by 3% in the quarter and 5% in the year to date. Our revenue, same, 5% in the quarter and more or less flat in the first half year. This is driven both by volumes, but also by the increase of price of raw materials, because as I told you, we transferred the prices of raw materials, and therefore our feed prices also increased. All this leads to an EBIT which is more or less on par with the first half, but we have to remember that we have an important contribution of some IPO costs. Also, the restructuring of our Tech Solutions, where we are transferring to a different business model with recurrent revenue and direct access, eliminating distributors. If we take out those, I could say, one-off costs, the performance in the feed segments, it is quite good, and we are delivering better in all our KPIs. ROIC, as I said before, is a very important metric for us, return on invested capital. Due to the nice EBITDA that we have, but also the management on net working capital, we are able to achieve a return on invested capital of 23.2%, which is, of course, outstanding for our industry. As I said before, this is the development in the feed segments, which is a little bit different to the one I showed before. There, we can see that the volume growth was around 3%, and the EBIT growth around 7%, if we only consider the feed segments and take away the IPO cost and the restructuring cost of our Tech Solutions division. The volume for the year to date, the increase is 5%, and the EBIT is 10%. So, really, really strong development. EBIT per ton also increasing, driven by margins, of course, and a little bit diluted by the increase in shrimp feed, which, as I said before, is cheaper than the salmon feed. Our strategy to remain very strong in our core markets, salmon and fish, or selected species, but at the same time grow a lot in shrimp, is working, and is showing the results that we have until Q2, and give a very nice base for the second half of the year. A very important issue happening this half year or quarter, as I said before, El Niño. We have all heard about El Niño effect in the temperature of the water. That means that the fishing goes down, actually, and the main fishing country is Peru, which drives most of the prices worldwide. As you can see in the graph, it has decreased significantly, in the case of fish oil, around 30%, and in the case of fishmeal, almost 50%. That means, as you can see in the graph in the middle, that the prices have gone up significantly, 110% in the case of fish oil and 50% in the case of fishmeal. How do we counteract this? Formulation, R&D expertise. This is where all our investment in R&D all these years, replacing or trying to complement and replace the fishmeal and fish oil, both for sustainability reasons, but also for pricing issues. This is giving effect now. We are able to counteract this increase and mimic the nutrients both of fishmeal and fish oil in a different way in order to mitigate the effect for the customers, but also the solutions have a higher value for BioMar. Multi-sourcing strategy. We try not to depend on one supplier and not in one country in order to be shifting around and have the availability of raw materials. Our commercial model supports the raw material cost recovery. As I said, most of our contracts around the world are either cost-plus contracts or basket contracts, where we can transfer quarterly the increase in raw materials to the farmers. Innovation. We continue to evaluate a lot of different alternatives, novel raw materials, algae oil, single-cell proteins, very sophisticated ingredients in order to mimic these nutrients. Remember, fish and shrimp don't grow on raw materials, they grow on nutrients. If we are able to mimic the nutrients of a certain raw material, that has an effect and is more valuable for our customers and for us in BioMar. Of course, a diversified footprint. We are all around the world, different species. We are in 16 countries, so basically our footprint is very diversified, so we can balance profitability in different species and different parts of the world. All of this allows us to use the momentum and increase our guidance. We increased from previously 1.61 to 1.67 to 1.63 to 1.7, the volume. The main reason is new contracts in some species, more share of contracts, and growth in general in shrimp, which is quite nice to see. EBIT is increased from 1.1 to 1.2, to 1.2 to 1.3. The main reasons, again, volume, of course, improvement in product and customer mix, new contracts, new products, which we believe are more valuable, ability to navigate and leverage on this raw material volatility. We believe our solutions have a higher value in this scenario, and some FX effects in the figures. Revenue, we increased from previously DKK 16 billion to DKK 17 billion to DKK 17 billion to DKK 18 billion. Again, based on growth, but also based on higher raw material cost, which at the end goes into our price of feed, which increased the revenue, plus also some currency effect. Last, CapEx. We have said before, we have guided that we will invest DKK 300 million to DKK 500 million in CapEx. Now, we are well into the year, so we know it will be between DKK 400 million and DKK 500 million. So in the range, but we shortened the range of the CapEx. We maintain our target capital structure from one to two, and we still target the same dividend policy of minimum 50%. Our return on invested capital, we have committed to be over 20%, so we are well ahead of that metric also. Having said that, Michael, I open the microphone for questions. Yeah. We have got a lot of questions in, so let's jump into it. The first one is regarding, is there a limit to how much you can replace fishmeal and fish oil before it affects fish growth? Meaning, do you have limits to how you can switch between those ingredients, or is that unlimited for you to do that in case it should explode even more on the marine raw materials? Yeah. Well, it is different from species to species. As you know, salmon is rich in omega-3, so it requires omega-3. With the knowledge we have today in salmon, we can replace most of it in the case of fish oil. In the case of fishmeal, the same. The knowledge-based, the R&D knowledge in salmon is higher than in other species. You could say that in other species, we still cannot replace everything. I am sure it can be done, but we need to test it. We need to test it. We need to look for new solutions. Salmon, yes, we can replace most of it. Other species, less, but on the way. You need to be building knowledge all the time in order to intake the micronutrients that could be affecting the growth. Then the next question is, how much of your guidance upgrade is you having one new contract taking market share, and how much of it is maybe more dependent on your expectations of the output growth of your customers, the biological production of fish by your producers, by your customers? Yeah. The biological conditions in general are looking good across the market, so we do not expect bad surprises. But of course, this is biology, so everything can happen. But we are not raising our guidance on higher or better biological conditions. Most of it comes from either new contracts or bigger share of existing contracts. We have gained some share of existing contracts significantly and some new contracts, especially in the salmon segment. Perfect. Then a question on Salmones Austral. What are their ambitions in Chile? There are more questions. I do not know, should I take them one by one? So Salmones Austral, what are their ambitions in Chile? Salmones Austral? Yeah. Salmones Austral, well, BioMar is owning around 23% of Salmones Austral. Salmones Austral is a Chilean company, where BioMar, for historical reasons, in the past holds 23%. It is not our core business. What is the intention of BioMar? We do not intend to own farms to sell feed. So, we own this 23% because of historical reasons. But of course, it is a fantastic company. It produces around 60,000 tons of Atlantic salmon and coho salmon, one of the most important producers of coho salmon. The intention, as every other salmon company, is to grow according to the market. But BioMar holds only 23%, so it is included in our non-consolidated business. There are some specific questions about output and so on, and how they position themselves to the strong El Niño coming. I do not know whether you want to go into such details on associated companies. Of Salmones Austral? Yeah. Well, Salmones Austral is El Niño also has an effect in the water temperature, okay? Specifically in Chile, there have been some effect because of the increase in temperature in the water, affecting the health of some areas in the south of Chile. Fortunately, the locations of Salmones Austral are quite good, but Salmones Austral is very well prepared in terms of infrastructure in order to mitigate these effects, which could be algae or other effects. So they are very well positioned for an El Niño, but of course, they also have the increase of cost input of feed. In our case, it's our own feed, as the other suppliers. Sorry, farmers. Yeah. Maybe then to the biggest risk to your guidance, is that marine biologicals or the falls in price, or is it that still the volumes going to be as expected? Meaning, do we have a biological risk by, as you said, I think you said to me, fish dying, and of course, then they are not going to eat, or is it- What if the marine prices go down? What are the biggest risks? What are you most comfortable with in your guidance, and what do you see as the biggest risk? No, we are quite comfortable with the margins we are putting forward, with the positions of raw materials that we have, with the products. That we are well-placed. Remember, there's only five months more. As always, the volumes, meaning the biological conditions, that can play a big role. Temperature in the water in Norway, in different places, lice treatments, diseases, that can always play a role. So if you ask me what is the biggest one, it would be biological conditions/volumes. But we are quite comfortable that we are in place. If prices of marine raw materials drop, that's good news to everybody, to be honest. Yeah. We have the solutions in place, which are valuable, but to be honest, we also want customers which are also healthy and can have a healthy business. So, our job is to mitigate this effect for them, and of course, if conditions are better for them, it's better for us. Today, it will be the fish oil that we're replacing, but tomorrow we can replace the fishmeal or the soya. I mean, we have the knowledge to build through fatty acids or amino acids the nutrients that a fish or shrimp require to grow. So it is a renewable competitive advantage that you need to gain through your innovation center. Is there a scenario where demand for fishmeal, fish oil exceeds the available supply towards the end of the year? I think it is asked because how closely connected is alternatives, i.e., algae oil, to the price of fish oils? Meaning, is there a risk of actually it will exceed the supply, the available supply, sorry, the demand will exceed the supply, and could that also pressure up the alternatives that you can switch to? Yeah. Of course, the alternative is not only one. It is not that we have one alternative that makes the magic. It is a combination of things that build the, in this case, the fatty acid profile. So, of course, all the alternatives will price themselves according to the benchmark. So, of course, it will be Let's say it will continue increasing in price, they will increase in price, for sure. If there will be a lack of availability, so far, it looks okay. I think we need to look at the quota for Peru, which is in the second season. The second season of the quota of Peru, which usually is in November, December, that will dictate how tough the situation could be. But so far, there is enough. Actually, the most limited source is fish oil, not the fishmeal. There is enough for the time being. Will it increase in price, the alternatives? Yes. Will our solution also be more valuable? I think so. But as I said, our main purpose is to mitigate it for customers, so that would be good news. Of course, we will continue doing innovation and R&D in other nutrients. That is what we do. There is a little bit broader about what about competition? Is it mostly about pricing, and what is the new innovation trends? Meaning, what are you seeing by your competitors? Is it mostly when you meet them, is it the price more, or is there also some new innovation trends that is pressuring you from the competitive side? It varies a lot from market to market and from competitor to competitor. We have some competitors that are really commodity-focused, so they go price, and price, and volumes. We have other competitors that are a little bit closer to us. In our case, we focus a lot in innovation, in new products. There is what you call standard feeds, which is the normal performance feeds, but we also have a big part of our portfolio which is value-added feeds or functional feeds, which is feeds built for solving a specific problem in the health of the fish or shrimp. That is also a differentiation. Functional feeds, sustainability. We have also customers that are really committed to sustainability, also have signed for science-based targets, and they need a supplier that can provide formulas with a lower carbon footprint. That's another differentiation. Linked to sustainability, a lot of branding. I think there are some customers also promoting their fish or shrimp as more responsible, in this case, and trying to create brands to retailers and so on. We have a lot of examples with salmon, with shrimp, and other species. In our case, differentiation, we have some competitors in the middle, then we have a lot of them really based on commodity and price. Perfect. There's a question I think we will jump a little bit into. What does the future prospect for your factories in Chile if the salmon production goes down because of the increasing sea temperatures? Any thoughts about those changes that can also affect you out in the future? Well, the temperature profile in Chile is almost perfect for salmon. I mean, it is. Well, of course, everything can happen that the world temperature goes up 5 degrees or 10 degrees, then we have another problem. The least of the problems is the salmon farming in Chile. That I don't think it will happen. The temperature profile is quite good. But the growth of Chile, it is a good question, what will happen with the growth of Chile? That is very much linked to regulation. I think the past governments, without entering into politics, the past governments have been really anti-salmon. I think the new government and the new regulation changes that are coming are going in the right direction. If those changes go through, I think Chile can, the opposite, recover the growth, and in my view, in a more sustainable way, because the changes are going in the right direction, also from a sustainability and welfare point of view. I think the Chilean volumes are more linked to the future regulation, and our plants, well, we do not foresee that we have to close plants or do whatever. We see a good future for the Chilean salmon farming. Then there is a question about Norway. Your volumes went a little bit down, the production volumes, or actually feed volumes was a little bit up, so it seems like a little bit lower as you talk about contracts. The question is maybe more to 2027, what are your expectations? I know you are not going to guide, that is too early for that, but your expectations for your production, or your growth potential to grow in Norway looking into 2027 with maybe new contract wins and the upgraded guidance, maybe just some comments about your expectations for the Norwegian markets. Yeah. No, we are very positive and optimistic about Norway, okay? First of all, biological conditions this year have been much better in general. Second, as you know, as you correctly pointed, because of the loss of an important contract actually in Q2, we had lower volumes in that market. Actually, we said this was a transition year because we did not want to go and get crazy in the market to recover that volume at any price. We were not planning to recover. Fortunately, conditions have gone on our side, our performance, our competitiveness, and we are able to recover these volumes in the second half. In a way, we are a little bit getting faster to recovery of those volumes than what we thought. So we see with very positive eyes also the volumes for 2027. Also, this year, there was not very big and important tenders, but they are for next year. We believe that BioMar will get the share that we deserve in the market. Again, we will not get crazy. We will always privilege also profitability over volume. We see it very positive. We have good prospects, good contracts, good positions, and we believe we will get our share for sure. And then there's a question, very simple. When you increase your guidance, should we as shareholders also expect more dividends? I guess you shared that it's 50% of the bottom line. If you increase your guidance, should we also expect more dividends? I know not right now, but on the results. Well, we said at least 50%. At least 50%. of our net profit will be dividend. That, of course, is a shareholder and board decision. We will propose something, and depending on growth, depending on investment opportunities, M&As, whatever, we need to have the flexibility, but at least 50% will be given. Then let's evaluate at the end of the year and discuss with the board, for sure. What is the biggest bottleneck for your growth? Is it your production capacity, the supply of the raw materials, or is it the customer's production, their output, their prices, and how well your customers are doing? What is your biggest bottleneck for growth when you look at it? It is very different from market to market. There is a reason why we have said that our strategy is to get stronger in salmon and selected species in Europe, and then grow other places. Basically because there is not a lot of growth potential or opportunity, I think we said 3%-5% in Europe, so we need to go to other markets. That is shrimp in Asia and in Latin America. In those markets, it is basically production capacity or finding the right targets as M&As. That is what we need to do in those markets. In the salmon and other species, it is regulation in some places, if it changes. Technology is also helping to produce more in a different way. I think those are the bottlenecks. Some of them are internal capacity in the new markets or M&A targets. Some of them are more regulation in the more mature markets. I do not think that the raw materials will be a big bottleneck because the knowledge in nutrition is really going fast. Perfect. That was my last question. Thank you to you, Carlos Diaz, for taking us through your results and answering questions. Congratulations with a very fine result as your first one as a freshly listed company. Thank you for the audience listening in and giving us a good round of Q&A through questions. May everybody have a nice day. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.